Ferris Wheel
by Necessitating Love
Summary: [Even if loving you was a crime, I’d still love you. They’d have to lock me in jail forever.] Who knew you could find love on a silly carnival ride?


**Disclaimer:** :sigh:

**A/N:** Okay, so this is my first Taiora oneshot. The idea just randomly popped into my head while watching some old episodes of the first season.

One thing you should be familiar with before reading this: there is a huge ferris wheel that can be seen from the living room of Tai's house (Watch any episode that shows Tai's house. Or watch the movie. You'll see that big ol' ferris wheel.)

Another note: The first two _Italics _are memories.

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**Ferris Wheel**

A boy of seventeen lay on a white leather sofa, his leg lazily dangling over the side of the sofa with his arm resting behind a head of messy chestnut hair. At the sound of a sigh, a pair of chocolate-colored eyes turned its gaze from the TV screen to the source of the sigh: a girl, also seventeen, sitting at the end of his sofa. He smiled as he watched the girl absentmindedly running a slender finger through her auburn hair. She was always fussing with her hair. Her face was turned away from his gaze and was facing the large window that looked out into the balcony. Beyond the balcony, the evening rain had ceased and night had freshly fallen. The tiny raindrops that were sprinkled along the window sparkled with the cheerful array of lights from the pier's ferris wheel. The girl seemed to be gazing out at the ferris wheel.

She also seemed to feel much better than when she had unexpectedly arrived at his doorstep just two hours ago.

"_Hey, Sora." He grinned and stepped aside to let her in the front door. "What're you doing outside? It's about to rain."_

"_Tai…" Her eyes were cast down and her breathing was uneven, as if she were on the verge of tears._

_Tai furrowed his brows in concern. "You okay? Did something happen?"_

_Sora looked up at him. "Can I just stay here for a little bit?" she whispered._

_His eyes fell upon a bright red imprint on her left cheek, an unmistakable souvenir of a slap to the face. With the immediate understanding that Sora had had another argument with her mother, Tai pulled her through the doorway and closed the door behind them. As if on cue, Sora instantly dug her face into his shirt and began to cry. Tai was slightly taken aback, but nevertheless put comforting arms around her. _

"_Let it all out, Sora," he whispered through her sobs, as he gently stroked the back of her head. He let her cry in his arms for a good ten minutes, not caring that his shirt was getting wetter by the minute. What did he care if his shirt got a little wet with tears? He could always wash his shirt, but moments with Sora only came precious few times._

_When Sora finally pulled back, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and looked up at his warm chocolate eyes, smiling in gratitude. He smiled back and brushed away a stray tear with his thumb._

"_Feeling better?"_

_She nodded, still smiling. "But your shirt paid the price."_

"Sora?"

The girl turned her head to meet the boy's gaze with her sparkling crimson eyes. "Yes, Tai?"

Just looking into her eyes tempted Tai to tell her how he felt about her. How hard was it to say three little blissfully simple one-syllable words? He wanted to release the emotions that squirmed and twisted and clawed at his insides, demanding him to confess and make his feelings known to the oblivious girl before him. But now was not the time. "What're you thinking about?" he asked out of lack of something else to say.

Sora smiled and turned to gaze out the window. "Do you remember the first time we went on the ferris wheel?"

Tai's eyes drifted to the window where he saw the ferris wheel slowly rotating against the night sky. His lips spread into a small smile. "Mmhmm." How could he ever forget?

"_I can't believe you've never been on the ferris wheel!" a twelve-year-old Tai exclaimed as he tugged on Sora's hand, dragging her closer to the ferris wheel. "You've been missing out, you know that, Sora?"_

"_What's so great about this thing?" Sora huffed, wiggling her hand out of Tai's grasp. The two were now standing on the relatively short line. Sora craned her neck to look up at the ferris wheel. It was moving too slowly for her liking. "It looks really boring to me."_

"_Well, yeah, I'll admit it's kinda slow, but you can see the whole world from up there!" Tai pulled his goggles onto his tangle of chestnut hair and grinned up at the ferris wheel. "C'mon, let's get on." He grabbed Sora's hand, pulled her into an empty compartment, and plopped down on the seat next to Sora. The compartment door snapped close and the two friends felt themselves lurch upward as the ferris wheel started to rotate._

_Tai and Sora pressed their noses into the small windowpane and watched as the people below them grew smaller and smaller as their compartment drew nearer to the pinnacle of the wheel. Behind them, all of Tokyo seemed to be stretched out before them in an infinite maze of rooftops. In front of them, they saw the rest of the pier dotted with tiny specks of people walking below. Beyond the pier, the glittering Pacific Ocean was stretched out before them, becoming one with the cloudless, pale blue sky in the distant horizon. Land, ocean, and sky, all stretched out before them. It truly was a view of the world._

_Tai looked sideways at Sora and saw her crimson eyes sparkling in wonder and enjoyment. He smiled in awe when he saw the world reflected in her two eyes. Why hadn't he ever noticed how beautiful her eyes were?_

_Sora seemed to sense Tai's eyes on her and turned her gaze to him. "What? Do I have something on my face?" she asked, rubbing her cheek with two fingers._

"_Huh? Oh…no. You don't." Tai quickly turned his eyes away and felt his face heat up in embarrassment. As Sora shrugged and turned her attention back to the Pacific, Tai smiled in secret realization; he was falling for Sora Takenouchi._

Tai bolted upright on the sofa, eyes still on the ferris wheel. Of course! Why hadn't he ever thought of this before? "You know what I feel like doing?" he asked.

Sora arched an eyebrow and tapped her chin with her finger, pretending to be deep in thought. "Hmm...lemme guess. You feel like eating?"

"Besides that!" he laughed as Sora mimicked him stuffing his face with food. "C'mon," he slipped his hand into hers and stood up. "Let's go down to the pier."

The pier was empty but for a few people; it was warm out, but the earlier rain had driven everyone indoors. The ferris wheel was deserted with the exception of the lone operator, who looked absolutely bored out of his mind. Tai grinned to himself. _Perfect._

"Wait right here for a second," Tai told Sora before running over to the operator. "Hey, how's it going?" he said casually to the operator, who stood hunched over the control panel. The operator stared up at him with lazy eyes in response. "Er, would you do me a favor and stop the wheel when we get to the top?" Tai gestured toward Sora. "Just for a couple of minutes," he added in a whisper.

The operator eyed him and Sora. "Why would I do that?" he asked in a gruff voice.

Tai scratched his head. "Umm," he rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a few paper bills. "Five yen?" The bargaining method always seemed to work in the movies. Maybe it would work for him.

And sure enough, the operator perked up at the sight of the money. "Go right on ahead!" he said, snatching the yen from Tai's outstretched hand.

Tai grinned and ran back to Sora, who was standing with her arms crossed and an expression akin to annoyance. "What were you talking to that guy about?" she huffed as Tai grasped her hand and pulled her to the ferris wheel. "And why did the operator just wink at me?" she asked in a hushed tone as they walked past the operator.

"Never mind him," Tai laughed as he and Sora stepped onto the platform and got into an empty compartment. He closed the door behind them and sunk down onto the seat opposite Sora as the ferris wheel started to move.

Sora was looking sideways out the small window and combing her fingers through her hair. Tai leaned forward and grasped her hand. Sora's eyes fluttered from the window to Tai, confused. "What?" she questioned.

"You don't have to fuss with your hair so much, Sora," Tai said, smiling his signature lopsided grin. "You're beautiful as you are." In the soft glow of the ferris wheel lights, Tai saw a blush creep across Sora's cheeks and could almost feel the heat emitted from her face. Realizing what he had just said, Tai felt his own face heat up and released his grasp on Sora's hand. He leant back and hoped that Sora didn't notice him blushing.

The two sat in awkward silence, both pairs of eyes fixed on anything but each other, until the ferris wheel came to a stop. They were at the wheel's pinnacle, the city lights winking up at them and the stars winking down at them. It was just the two of them, floating between two infinite hemispheres of land and sky.

"Wow…" breathed Sora. Tai turned his eyes to Sora, who was gazing up at the moon. She looked heavenly in the glow of the moonlight that flooded into the small compartment. "I could stay up here forever."

"So could I," Tai agreed, not quite taking his gaze off Sora. Crimson eyes met chocolate eyes, causing both teens to blush and look away once again.

A heavy sigh escaped the lips of the auburn-haired girl. "Tai?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you something?" There was a quiver in her voice.

His insides shuddered. "Sure."

"What would you do if someone said you were…an irresponsible, egocentric, no-good boy who has nothing going for him?" Sora held her breath as if she feared the worst.

Tai cocked his head. "You think I'm an irresponsible, egocentric, no-good boy who has nothing going for him?" he asked, feeling slightly hurt that Sora would think that.

Sora looked up in surprise. "No! Of course not!" But she looked away. "It's just…my mom thinks so," she muttered in disdain.

"So…you and your mom argued about me?"

Sora nodded, keeping her eyes on her knees. "She said I shouldn't be spending so much time with someone like you 'cus you're a 'bad influence.' "

Tai stared. "What'd you say to her?"

"That she doesn't know what she's talking about, and she shouldn't mistrust men just because my dad left her."

Tai felt a tang of guilt. What if he had put further strain on the already tense relationship Sora had with her mom? "Ooh, that was a little harsh, Sora. I mean, your mom probably just doesn't want you to go through what she had to."

"I know…" She put a hand over the spot where her mom had slapped her. "But I can't just let her say bad things about my friends." She lowered her hand and smiled at Tai. "Especially a friend like you."

Tai frowned. Should he be glad that Sora stuck up for him, or disappointed that she referred to him as a friend? "Actually, I meant to tell you something when I brought you up here."

Sora's smile weakened when she saw Tai's frown. "Tell me what?"

"It's nothing bad," Tai added, breaking into a smile. "I mean, at least I don't think it is…" This was it. This was his chance. He was going to tell her everything he meant to tell her right here, on top of the world. He hadn't paid the operator five yen for nothing. He stared into Sora's crimson eyes. Was it just him, or did her eyes look expectant? "The first time we came on the ferris wheel together…" He felt butterflies pounding their wings against his insides. "I, well, I saw something that I hadn't seen before." His voice was getting weaker with each word. He cleared his throat. "I guess you can say that I…saw you in a new light that day."

Something flickered in Sora's eyes. "A…new light?"

"It's just…something inside me clicked. It was like I found out who I was for the first time, like I knew what my life's purpose was." He took a deep breath. His heart was pumping somewhere in his throat. "I realized I wanted to be here for you forever. I wanted to be there whenever you needed someone to laugh with or to cry with. I wanted to be there for you when you needed someone to talk to. And I wanted to be there to listen to you, even when you had nothing to say."

"Tai…" Sora's eyes sparkled with oncoming tears.

"I fell in love with you, Sora." There. He had said it. The butterflies ceased their pounding and comfortingly stroked his insides with silky wings. "I fell in love with you, right here on the ferris wheel."

A pair of crimson eyes widened in disbelief. "You…you what?" Her voice quivered.

"I fell in love with you," he whispered. "I never stopped loving you." He gazed into her crimson eyes. "And I never will stop loving you."

"You….you…love me? _Love_? _Me_?" Her voice was almost inaudible. Tears threatened to spill.

"And you know what?" He leaned forward and took her hands in his. "Even if loving you was a crime, I'd still love you." He smiled. "They'd have to lock me in jail forever."

Sora threw her arms around Tai, tears now falling freely. "Do you know how long I've waited for you to say something like this?" she sobbed.

Tai pulled away, just enough to see Sora's face. He grinned, wiping away her tears for the second time that day. "I'm sorry I made you wait."

Sora shook her head. "No, I'm sorry."

"For what?"

Sora smiled as she slowly leaned in. "For waiting this long to do this." And with the moon and the stars as their witnesses, they shared their first kiss. It was a tender kiss made sweeter by the confessions that unfolded through their kiss. The stars were their fireworks. The moon was their love song. The city lights twinkled in applause. The ocean waves serenaded them. When they pulled apart, they both knew that they had found their place in the world.

As the ferris wheel began to the rotate once more, Tai and Sora were sitting side-by-side, arms embraced around each other, never wanting the moment to end.

"You were right, Tai," Sora said, gazing out at the view.

"About what?"

"You really can see the whole world from up here."

He smiled and pulled her closer. "Told you so." But Tai no longer needed the view from the ferris wheel to see the world; his whole world was snuggled in his arms.

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**A/N**: Sorry if the writing was a bit bad and incoherent. The idea for this wouldn't leave me alone and I just _had_ to get it out of my system. I hope you readers liked it, though. Review with your thoughts! Thanks :)


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